Dress



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DRESS Filed Aug. 1'7, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 wlmi-:555s 22 l INVENTOR 5M@a {vigil/Z .f Cahn' Patented Junel, 1936 NITED Asrxrlss PATENT OFI-iceDRESS Joseph T. cukor, 'ruekahoa N. Y. Application August 17, 1935,Serial No. 36,728

` 2 claims. (ci. zum) This invention relates to wearing apparel, and Atthe extreme sides oi' the garment there are particularly to an improveddress, the objectA sections i and 8 in both the skirt and waist andbeing to provide a construction which may prethese sections are leftunmolested, but between sent a dress of conventional design whileat thethese sections and the front and rear there are same time providingmeans for expansion from provided a number of pleats indicated by nu- 5time to time. merals 9, I0, II, I2, I3, I4, I5, and I6. From Anotherobject of the invention is to provide Fig. 4'it will be observed that atthe front near a dress which in appearance presents the usual each sidethere are two pleats extending vertically style of the day, but whichhas formations capaabove and below the waistline. At the rear there 10ble of being released so that the dress may be are also provided twopleats near the sides of 10 utilized as a maternity dress. the garmentextending above and below the A further object, more specifically, is toprowaistline. 'I'he widest portion of these pleats is vide a dress whichmay be let out from time to at the waistline and from this point theytaper time by pregnant women, but which in its varito a' point at thetop and bottom, as illustrated ous stages of adjustment will present adress of particularly in Fig. 5. When a woman is using 15 theconventional prevailing styles and one which the garment and becomessomewhat enlarged, will not be appreciably distorted by the enlargingone or more of these pleats is let out by' cutting condition of thewearer. the thread holding the same. Usually one pleat In theaccompanying drawings: on each side of Vthefront is let out rst and thengo Fig. 1 is a front view of a dress disclosing an one pleat on v'eachside of the rear is let out 20 embodiment of the invention, the sameillustratsecond. This continues as the woman enlarges ing a dress beforeany o! the parts have been until all the pleats have been let out, ifnecessary.

l released or adjusted; As is well-known, a pregnant woman becomes Fig.2 is a rear view of the structure shown in enlarged above the waistlineas well as below the Fig. 1; waistline at the front and many times atthe 25 Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged rear, so that thepleats extend both above and scale of the central part of the dress asillustrated below the waistline, and any of these pleats may in Fig. 1,certain parts being broken away for be removed at any time to take careof the enillustrating the arrangement of a supporting and largementeither at the front or rear, above or beconfining belt embodying certainfeatures of the low the waistline. The removal of the pleats will 3oinvention; not materially change the general appearance of Fig. 4 is asectional -view through Fig. 3 apthe dress as they are usually removedin pairs proximately on line 4 4; whereby an even balance or uniformappearance Fig. 5 is a sectional view through Fig. 4 apis maintained inthe dress. proximately on the line 5-5; and During the later stages ofpregnancy there is 35 Fig. 6 is a plan View on a somewhat enlarged quiteoften an appreciable enlargement at the scale of the supporting andconning belt shown front which in an ordinary dress would raise the inFig. 3. front of the dress undesirably. Sometimes the Referring to theaccompanying drawings by dress at the rear is also raised undesirabiy.To numerals, I indicates what may be termed the take care of theseconditions, there is provided 40 body of the dress which is providedwith a skirt circumferentially extending tucks II and I8 at section 2and an upper or waist section 3. The the front which are reallydouble-ended pleats as waist section 3 mayV be provided with long orthey taper or merge into a point adjacent the shrt sleeves 4 and with acollar 5 or other neck respective darts 9 and I6 at the front. If theformation as desired. The particular design of enlargement'is only belowthe waistline the pleat 46 dress shown in Fig. 3 forms no part of thepres- I1 will be eliminated by cutting the threads holdent invention butis presented so as to illustrate ing the same, but if the bust shouldbecome enthe invention as it will appear when in use. The larged thepleat I8 in the upper part of the body is skirt 2 and the upper part 3are preferably made eliminated. This will give additional materialseparately and secured together by a line of at the front of the dresswhich will result in 50 stitching 6, said line of stitching being at themaintaining the length of the dress normal, and waistline of thegarment. If desired, the skirt the bottom of the dress always in ahorizontal 2 and part 3 may be made in one piece, though plane when inuse. The same action may take ordinarily it is made of two pieces andconnected place in the rear though usually to a lesser extent. togetherby'a seam 6. For instance, as shown in Fig. 2, there is only one 55double-ended pleat I9 though more could be provided if desired. In Fig.1 there is only one upper and one lower pleat though more could beutilized if necessary or desirable.

By providing a dress of a desired style and then forming the variouspleats as specified, namely the vertical darts at the front and rear andthe horizontal darts at the front and rear, a desired appearing dress ispresented which may be wom at any time and which will not give theappearance of a maternity dress but will give the appearance of anordinary dress as is commonly worn. As the dress is let out and enlargedabove and below the waistline the same style and general appearance ofthe dress is maintained and the horizontal level of the bottom of thedress is also maintained. In this way a woman wearing the dress maypresent a proper and pleasing appearance for almost the entire period ofpregnancy. After this period is over, if it should be desired to furtherutilize the dress for ordinary wear, the various pleats may be re-formedand stitched in place so that the original appearance of the dress willbe presented and may be worn as a conventional dress without anysuggestion or intimatin that it is of a special type.

In order to take care of certain conditions an to augment the formationshown in Figs. 1 to 5, there is provided a supporting belt structure 20as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6. 'I'his belt structure is preferablytacked to the dress body l so as to be positioned substantially as shownin Fig. 3, and thereby provide a proper support and slight constrictingaction at the point of greatest enlargement. The belt 20 may be made ofany suitable textile fabric in a similar way to the dress, but ispreferably made from some strong fabric so as to provide a supportingbelt that will take some ofthe strain off of th'e dress proper. 'I'hebelt 20 is made in two parts stitched together at 2l with an enlargedportion 22 adapted to t across the front of the person using the device.The enlarged portion 22 merges into bands 23 and 24 which aresufficiently long to extend around the body. A buckle or other securingmeans may Some form of adjustable, disengageable, fastening means isdesirable as it is necessary to let out the eil'ective length of thebelt from time to time.

In addition to these fastening means just described, there are provideda number of tucks 25, said tucks being equal in number to the pleatsshown in Fig. 4 and placed substantially opposite these pleats so thatwhenever a pleat is let out one of the tucks 25 is let out. Preferablythe belt 22 is merely tacked to the lower edge portion of the upper partor waist section 3 of the dress, but if desired the front part could bepermanently connected thereto.

I claim: 1. A dress comprising a body formed with upper 20 and lowerparts, said upper and lower parts having groups of longitudinallyextending pleats at the front and rear near the sides extending from thewaistline of the dress, said pleats being capable of being opened at anytime, and crcumferen- 2.3 tially extending tucks at the front and rear,said tucks extending from one group of pleats to the other of the bodyadjacent the waistline for varying the effective length of the garmentat the front and rear.

2. A maternity dress comprising a body structure having above and belowthe waistline pleated formations adjacent the sides at the front andback, said pleated 4formations extending longitudinally of the dress,and a series of tucked for- 3 mations arranged at the front and back ofthe dress extending circumferentially, certain of said tucked formationsbeing above and certain below the waistline, all of said tuckedformations being capable of being independently eliminated for enlargingthe garment circumferentially and also longitudinally.

JOSEPH T. CUKOR.

